


red strings

by orphan_account



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slice of Life, Soulmates, siren!noct
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 04:22:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14887547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The story goes: if you put a note in a bottle, tied with red string, and send it off, the one to find it is your soulmate.





	red strings

**Author's Note:**

> long time no ao3 upload orz
> 
> written for saturday/sunday of [ignoctweek](http://ignoctweek.tumblr.com)'s ignoct writing weekend
> 
> i used the saturday prompts noctilucent, urban fantasy, and the over 5000 words word count, and sunday prompts soulmates, slice of life, galdin quay, and paper

**8/6**

Ignis picks his way down the beach, stepping along the wet part of the sand where the water goes in and out. It comes up to his ankles, wetting the sand on his legs and turning it to mud before leaving again. He keeps his eyes down, searching, and picks up shells as he goes, putting them in his collection bag. It’s almost full—probably room for just a few more.

He can smell meat cooking at the Mother of Pearl, mixed with spices and herbs, and its music floats faintly on the wind above the quiet _shush-shush_ of the ocean. People come and go along the long walkway connecting it to the main beach where the shops are, talking animatedly. Kids and couples splash in the water, squealing and laughing.

He goes further from the beach, searching out the little pier tucked away from the main part of Galdin Quay. Sand turns into dirt and grass, and he carefully avoids sharp rocks to not cut himself. It’s quieter over this way, left alone by tourists and not frequented by locals—Ignis’s favorite spot of the Quay.

The boards of the pier are wet and cool, a nice reprieve from the hot sand against his bare feet, and he drops to his knees at the very edge, looking down into the water below. It’s crystal clear, blue as the summer sky, and he watches the fish swim around in lazy patterns before darting off suddenly. Sea anemones sway in the current up by the cliffside, and Ignis thinks there’s even some starfish.

Glancing around, Ignis ensures he’s alone before pulling out the piece of paper in his pocket. He looks it over one more time before taking out the empty root beer bottle his mom let him keep after they finished their early dinner. He rolls the paper up into a cylinder, tying it with the red string he bought at the crafts shop, and begins carefully sliding it into the bottle.

There’s a splash somewhere in front of him, and Ignis looks up, thinking it must be a fish. A strange sense falls over him, like being watched, and he pauses in his project to squint out at the water.  He pushes his glasses up, frowning as his eyes scan around but he sees nothing. He starts to go back to his paper and bottle when something pops up beneath him, and he starts.

A face with blue eyes the color of the ocean and surrounded by dark hair peers up at him, cocked to the side. They look young—younger than Ignis, maybe, but not by much—and there’s a strange, bluish tinge to their skin. Ignis thinks there are marks on their neck where the water meets it.

“Hi,” they say, and Ignis blinks. “Whatcha doing?”

He looks down at the bottle in his hand, paper barely sticking out of the top. He holds it up. “Sending a message in a bottle,” he replies.

“Oh.” They come closer, eyes intent on the bottle in interest. “What’s the message?”

“That’s for whoever finds it to know,” Ignis says, pushing the paper the rest of the way in. “It’s a secret for just them and me.”

They hum, a sort of _ah_ sound that’s unusually pleasant to hear, and float back in the water. “Am I allowed to ‘find’ it if I know about it?”

Ignis pauses and considers this, weighing the bottle in his hand. Everything he’d heard about messages in bottles hadn’t included the possibility of another person being there when it was cast off into the waves, to be carried far off to distant lands.

“I think that sort of defeats the purpose,” he finally says. “The other person isn’t supposed to know who sent it so fast, if ever.”

“Is it a love note?” they ask, and their nose scrunches up in distaste. It makes Ignis laugh.

“I’m not telling you,” he says, miming sealing his lips. He looks at them over his glasses, curious. “Would that be so bad, though?”

They shrug, turning their head, and Ignis sees those marks are slits— _gills,_ he realizes, as they flex gently in the water, drawing it in. He looks upon his new companion in awe as they look back at him.

“Are you a mer?” he asks, and they grin wider. They lean back and with a flourish, a tail— _a tail!_ —flicks out of the water.

“Close!” they say. Water splashes up onto the pier as they lift themselves up by their arms and rest their chin on them, hanging above the water. “I’m a siren!”

The word is familiar, and it takes Ignis a moment to place what he knows of them. His brow furrows. “Sirens are supposed to be dangerous.” He repeats the words he’s been taught. “They lure people to their deaths at sea with irresistible singing.”

“We do,” they agree. “But I’m still too young. I haven’t grown into my voice yet.”

Ah. That makes sense, Ignis supposes. “It’s a very nice voice,” he offers with a smile. “I bet it’ll be very beautiful and alluring when you’re grown up.”

They laugh, and it’s bright and warm, like wooden wind chimes. “Better be careful, then,” they say, and there’s a teasing note to their words. “You might be the first one I lure to death.”

Sharp teeth peek out between their lips as they grin widely, and it’s a strange kind of dangerously pretty—like finally noticing the thorns on a rose.

It sends a shiver up Ignis’s spine, and he grips the bottle tighter, but he doesn’t run. He likes this siren.

“Anyway.” They fall back into the water with grace, barely splashing. “Are you gonna send the bottle off now?”

Ignis nods, pursing his lips. He stands, brushing his trousers off, and looks out into the ocean—the tide is still coming and going, and his brow furrows as he thinks about how far out he wants to throw it. As far as he can, he decides, and he pulls his arm back, taking a breath, and then throwing with as much strength as he can.

It sails quite a ways and lands with a muted splash in the distance. He smiles, satisfied with himself, and grins back at his new friend.

“I’m Ignis,” he introduces. He kneels back down. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Noctis,” they say, leaning back to flick their tail up. It’s a deep onyx around one side, fading into a cobalt blue in the front. The fins at the end shimmer iridescent colors, and Ignis thinks it’ll grow into something extremely magnificent.

“Do you live around here?” Noctis asks.

“I don’t,” Ignis responds regretfully. “I’m from Tenebrae. But we visit every summer—my uncle lives in Cavaugh.”

“That’s cool,” Noctis says, smiling. Their eyes are bright, almost glowing. “I live pretty close—well, as close as you can when you live under water.”

“Do you have cities under water?” Ignis is intrigued.

“Sort of. I’m from Insomnia—the Crown City. I live at the Citadel.”

“That sounds amazing,” Ignis says, picturing a large structure, a magnificent, towering building, lit up with lights and life, but under the ocean’s waves.

“It’s pretty cool,” Noctis agrees, and Ignis shares a smile with them.

In the distance, Ignis hears his mom calling his name, and he looks up. The sky is beginning to darken, the sun closing in on the horizon. He sighs. “I have to go,” he tells Noctis, standing again. Noctis floats closer to the pier as Ignis gathers his bag of seashells. “But we’re here until the end of the week. Maybe I can see you again?”

“Sure,” Noctis says brightly. “I’ll be here.” They laugh like it’s some sort of inside joke, and Ignis supposes it must be—not many places you can go when you’re a siren.

Ignis waves as he retreats, and Noctis waves back before diving beneath the waves and disappearing from sight. Ignis watches the pier a moment longer until his mom’s voice gets louder and more urgent, and he turns to make his way back to the main beach.

 

**14/12**

Galdin Quay is as busy as ever, and Ignis avoids the crowds of tourists with a practiced ease. It’s just after lunch, so many of them are headed to the beach to sunbathe and digest their meals. Ignis skirts around them, leftovers in hand, telling his mom he’s searching for more seashells and will be back late, and makes for the pier hidden at the far edge of the Quay.

The water is cooler today—they’ve come earlier this year, before the mind-melting heat of the Lucian summer has set in, and Ignis shivers slightly as the spray hits his legs as he climbs over the rocks. The pier is quiet, only the _shush-shush_ of the gentle waves and the occasional cry of a gull overhead to be heard. He gets to the end of the pier and smiles.

“Hey, Iggy,” Noctis greets, tail flicking, and Ignis shields his face as water is splashed up at him. He glares at Noctis, who just laughs as he takes his glasses off to clean them.

“Very mature, Noctis,” he says, pretending to be put out, though really he finds it just as hilarious. He sets his glasses back on his nose. “I thought we were past this.”

“Not in a million years!” Noctis says gleefully, but he tucks his tail back into the water and comes closer to the pier. With a huff, he pulls himself out of the water completely to sit on the edge next to Ignis. He bumps their shoulders, and Ignis nudges back. He hands Noctis one of the wrapped packages in his hands, which earns him a brilliant smile.

“How’s your uncle?” Noctis asks, unwrapping the sandwich Ignis brought him. Ignis has found Noctis enjoys a lot of human food—namely, meats and sugars.

_You can only live on fish for so long,_ Noctis had said the first time Ignis offered him the uneaten half of his garula steak sandwich one day. _It’s good, but you get tired of it, you know?_

“He’s well,” Ignis replies, biting into his own sandwich. They share fries between them. “He’s taken a teaching position at the university and is moving to an apartment in the upper side of the city.”

“Oh, that’s cool!”

Ignis hums, chewing and swallowing. He keeps his eyes out on the horizon, watching the clouds. “He’s offered me to come live with him, actually. Before the start of the school year.”

“Really?” He looks at Noctis, who looks at him with excitement in his eyes. It makes Ignis smile.

“Really,” he confirms. “The schooling in Lucis is much more involved, at least in the areas I want to study. He thinks it would be good for me to go through high school here, so I’m familiar with the city before I enter university.”

“I think it’s a great idea!” Noctis tells him. He stuffs his mouth with another bite of sandwich and a handful of fries, speaking through the food. “You’d be closer to me, for one!”

“ _You_ are biased,” Ignis points out, but that _is_ also a reason he’s considering it, if he’s being honest. He’d love to see Noctis more than just once a year for a brief time—something draws him here, something he can’t explain even to himself, but he knows it has to do with Noctis.

Noctis shrugs, his expression saying _can’t argue with that,_ and bumps his shoulder against Ignis’s again. Shocks run up his arm, and Ignis shivers from something other than the cool breeze coming off the ocean. Noctis giggles, the sound like soft bells, and Ignis wants to hear it more.

They finish their meal in silence, and Ignis gathers the trash and sets it off to the side as Noctis slides back into the water. Being on land isn’t dangerous for sirens, Noctis had told him when he’d asked the first time Noctis had joined him on the pier. Not dangerous, but he tires out more quickly, and it becomes harder to breathe the longer he’s out of water, and especially the hotter and dryer the air is.

Ignis finds he’s torn about this; on the one hand, he misses Noctis’s physical presence beside him when they aren’t sitting together, but on the other hand, Noctis is a vision in the water—his tail gleaming, his eyes bright and almost glowing against the blue of the ocean.

It’s in those moments that Ignis remembers Noctis is a siren, a dangerous creature who will one day be known for killing people— _human_ people.

He can’t decide if he doesn’t care because he’s truly that heartless or simply because the severity of the situation hasn’t quite hit him yet. He thinks the latter—it’s hard to look at Noctis, smiling that goofy, fun smile of his as he shows Ignis some little trinket he found, or talking about the small kitten he helped that had gotten lost and fallen into the water, and tie him to the idea of a merciless killer.

“Iggy?”

Ignis blinks, turning away from staring off into nothing to look at Noctis. There’s a crease between those blue eyes and Ignis wants to reach down and smooth it out.

“Yes?”

“Just making sure you’re still here,” Noctis says, smiling. “Oh! I found something I wanted to show you.”

He dives under the waves and Ignis waits for him to resurface. When he does, he shakes his hair out and swims back to the pier, holding his hand out. Ignis reaches down and takes the shell, eyes widening.

“It’s beautiful,” he says, and it is—it’s a conch shell, no bigger than his palm, a lovely warm brown color, and a perfect spiral in its side. He holds it close and smiles softly down at Noctis. “Where did you find it?”

“Cape Caem,” Noctis replies. “Dad wasn’t impressed to hear I’d gone so far, but I had Gladio with me and was perfectly safe, okay!”

Ignis chuckles and shakes his head. A prince he might be, but Noctis has the spirit of a wanderer, and Ignis admires him for it. “I trust you, Noctis.”

Noctis huffs, cheeks puffing out and gills flared, but then he relaxes and looks shyly up at Ignis. There’s a deeper blue hue on his cheeks—a blush—and he rubs at the back of his neck. “You, uh. It’s for you, if you want. I know you like collecting them, so.”

Ignis looks between Noctis and the conch and places it carefully in his bag of shells. “Thank you. It’ll have a special place in the collection.” He thinks about the newest shelves in his room and decides this one will sit front and center.

Noctis looks away, a pleased smile on his face, and flicks his tail. The water splashes Ignis’s legs dangling over the pier, and he playfully kicks back. Noctis does it again, and Ignis huffs as he kicks back again, and Noctis grins, full of mischief, and suddenly Ignis is toppling off the pier into the water, wide-eyed.

He comes up sputtering and treading water, hair dripping in his eyes as Noctis cackles. “That wasn’t funny!” he says, indignant as he scrapes his hair from his eyes and glares. Thankfully, his glasses are still on his face.

Noctis snickers harder. He throws his head back, laughing from his belly, tail flicking up to help keep him balanced. “Oh, it was _hilarious,_ Iggy! You should see your face!”

“You’re the absolute worst,” Ignis huffs, fighting a smile of his own. He shakes his head, water flying, and relaxes. “Well, you’ve got me in here. Are you satisfied?”

“Almost,” Noctis says, laughter dying out, and he takes Ignis’s hand. His skin is cool against Ignis’s, almost silky, and Ignis’s heart speeds up. Noctis winks. “Hold your breath.”

Ignis takes a large lungful on instinct and lets Noctis pull him beneath the waves. They don’t go too far—just enough that the sun doesn’t penetrate quite so deep, and Noctis backs away, letting go after making sure Ignis is okay. He grins again, and Ignis watches, eyes wide with wonder, as his tail begins to glow _—_ actually _glow_ —with a faint blue light in swirling patterns. He looks back to Noctis’s face, to his eyes, and finds them glowing with a soft light as well.

Noctis takes his hand again and brings them back to the surface, and Ignis gasps as his face hits the air. He pulls deep breaths in and gazes in wonder at Noctis, a smile pulling up his lips.

“How fitting!” he exclaims on a laugh, and Noctis tilts his head in question. “ _Noctilucent_ ,” he says, gesturing to Noctis. “Glowing in the dark.”

“Ah,” Noctis says in understanding. “And it has ‘noct’ in it.”

“I was trying to be a good friend and not make the pun,” Ignis teases, and Noctis splashes him in the face, making him laugh.

“How do you even know that word?”

“I read,” Ignis says haughtily, turning up his nose, and Noctis tackles him, sending them floating off into deeper waters as they playfully struggle against one another.

Finally, Ignis tires, and Noctis holds onto him to keep him afloat. He blinks when Noctis’s head finds its way onto his shoulder, tucking into his neck, and Ignis swallows thickly.

“I’m going to catch a cold,” Ignis says after a while, wrapping his arms around Noctis. “I’m not made for the water like you are.”

“Which is too bad,” Noctis sighs. He pulls away and begins taking them back to the pier. “You’d make a great siren.”

Ignis doesn’t know what to think of that, but he takes it as the compliment it is. As soon as he’s back on dry land, he finds a patch of sun and lies down, spreading out in it. Sand is getting everywhere, but that’s just what happens on a beach. Noctis remains in the shallow beside him, and they cloud-watch until evening.

Ignis hears his mom calling for him as stars begin to fill the sky, and he reluctantly pushes himself up. He brushes the sand from his arms and legs and makes a face at how encrusted his clothes are. “I’m going to need a long shower.”

“Will I see you tomorrow?” Noctis asks, chin on his folded arms as he lies on his belly.

Ignis shakes his head sadly, and it tugs on something in his chest. “This is our last day. We leave in the morning.”

Noctis looks sad, glancing away. “That’s too bad,” he says. He looks back at Ignis, hope in his eyes. “How early are you leaving? Would you be able to come say goodbye?”

Ignis fiddles with the hem of his shirt, biting his lip. “I’ll see if I can, but I can’t promise anything.”

“It’s fine if you can’t,” Noctis assures him, though it’s obviously _not_ okay. The hope has faded. He offers up a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Have a safe trip, Iggy. I’ll see you next year.”

Before Ignis can say anything, Noctis pushes up and throws himself into the waves, disappearing into the darkening water. Ignis waits for a moment longer to see—what, he’s not sure, but he waits, and then he turns and heads back down the beach to the bustling parking lot where his mom is waiting.

“There you are!” she says, smiling as he comes up. “C’mon, love, we need to get back and pack. We have to leave earlier than planned—your ma has to be back.”

Ignis’s shoulders slump and he glances back at the beach. “Okay.”

From the dark, Ignis thinks he can make out a pair of glowing blue eyes watching him from the gently rolling waves. When he squints and concentrates, they’re gone, and he decides he’s imagining things.

A song comes on the wind—soft notes, like the gentle chime of bells—and Ignis rubs at his chest where his heart is.

 

**18/16**

Dawn is just breaking as Ignis sits on his pier—and it is his pier, because no one else bothers it—dipping his feet into the ocean. He’s finally tall enough that the water reaches his mid-calves, and he swings them lazily through the cool water, keeping away the fish that get too curious.

It’s quiet this early in the morning; the Mother of Pearl is just now beginning to bustle with wait staff prepping for the day. The beach is still, all the tourists still asleep in their hotels. Shop owners are the only ones in the Quay proper.

Even the ocean is still this morning, with no breeze to disturb it. It glitters as the sun’s rays crest over the cliffside and hit it, shattering in a rainbow of colors. The motions of Ignis’s swaying feet are all the rippling there is.

It’s not long before Noct’s dark head surfaces, smiling up at him, and Ignis smiles back.

“Hey, Specs,” Noct greets him. He comes up to the pier and rests his arms on the edge, settling his chin on them. “You’re here early.”

“So are you,” Ignis counters pointedly, and Noct shrugs. His tail bumps against Ignis’s leg, cooler than the water, and smoother, but without the nasty, slimy feeling of fish.

“I’m always here,” he says. His eyes glitter like the water when he looks up from under his bangs—his hair is getting long. Ignis wants to brush it away.

“That you are,” Ignis agrees. He leans back on his hands, stretching his neck. “Why _are_ you always here? Is Galdin Quay really that fascinating?”

“Not really,” Noct admits. “But it’s close to home, and there’s not really anywhere else I want to go.” He goes quiet for a moment, and Ignis thinks he hears him murmur, “ _You’re_ here.”

It makes his heart thump heavily against his rib cage, and a light feeling takes hold in his chest—pleasure and excitement and something else he can’t name. He suddenly feels hot, despite the cool morning.

“If you did,” Ignis starts, “if you wanted to go somewhere, where would you go?”

Noct hums thoughtfully. The sound travels up Ignis’s spine, spreading through his veins and urging him _closerclosercloser_ , and he closes his eyes, clenching his fists against the wood of the pier and swallowing thickly.

“Tenebrae,” Noct answers with a smile, oblivious to Ignis’s inner turmoil. “I wanna see where you grew up. Your stories make it sound so cool.”

“Mm,” Ignis agrees. He relaxes his fingers, stretching them out. “I’d like to take you there. I think you’d like it. Parts of it.”

“I think I would, too.”

They fall into familiar, companionable silence, listening as the Quay starts slowly coming alive. Ignis resists the urge to thread his fingers into Noct’s hair to feel its softness, tangling them there and never letting go again. The desire is becoming harder to ignore with each passing year, and Ignis wonders when his own will won’t be enough.

It hasn’t escaped his notice that Noct has grown in— _other_ ways. His tail is longer, and like he’d thought, the fins at the end have bloomed, delicate and magnificent, trailing along behind him like streamers in the water. He’s beginning to fill out, pale skin showing hints of the muscles beneath, muscles to drag down full grown humans and hold them beneath the waves as they struggle for air. When he smiles, his teeth are razor sharp. Markings have bloomed over his cheeks, too, giving him an otherworldly look.

His voice, though—it’s his voice Ignis has noticed the most, try as he might to ignore it. It’s been a slow thing, developed over years. As a child, he was simply pleasant to listen to, none of the high whining most humans sound like. Now—now it’s becoming something truly irresistible, low chimes with a curling resonance. Comparable to nothing Ignis knows.

It’s the most beautiful thing Ignis has ever heard, and he wants to _drown_ in it.

He wonders, sometimes, if Noct is as aware of his own changes the way Ignis is. He must be—he’s living them. But the way he continues to seek out Ignis, to talk to him and laugh with him and be near him—he wonders if Noct feels the way he does.

He wonder what this means for them.

Noct sighs, loud and obvious, and Ignis looks over at him, pulling himself from his thoughts.

“Can’t believe it’s been ten years since we met,” Noct says conversationally. He looks up at Ignis. “That’s a long time, Specs.”

“It is,” Ignis agrees. He chuckles. “I suppose I can officially say I’ve grown up with a siren.”

“You sure can,” Noct says with a smile. He looks off for a moment before bringing his ethereal blue gaze back to Ignis. “You never have told me what was in that bottle, you know.”

Ignis has to think back for a moment before the memory comes back to him, and he huffs in incredulity. “You still remember that?”

“Haven’t really forgotten.” Noct shrugs. “Not often you see a kid putting messages in bottles.”

Ignis hums, kicking his feet gently. His foot brushes against Noct’s tail, trailing up the smooth outside of it, and his heart skips a little when Noct pushes back, wrapping around Ignis’s leg.

“It’s my ma’s favorite story,” he says, after a quiet moment. “There’s the legend that if you write a note and put it in a bottle, tied with red string, and send it off, then the person who finds it is your soulmate.”

“The Red String,” Noct says, in understanding. “We have that, too. The Red String connects two souls, binding them no matter the distance, the time, or the place. They’re meant to be together.”

“Yes.” Ignis looks off into the horizon, where he’d cast that bottle all those years ago. He smiles a little. “Ma has always been a romantic, and I suppose I picked it up from her.”

“Mm, well, there wasn’t anything about bottles in our version,” Noct says lightly, and Ignis huffs a laugh. “But really? You sent off a bottle to find your soulmate?”

“Not exactly.”

“What, then?”

Ignis breathes deeply, releasing it slowly. “The goal wasn’t to find my soulmate, per se. More that I was curious to see if anyone would find it at all. And if they did, would they respond? It was curiosity more than anything. I was eight.”

Noct is quiet for a moment, gazing thoughtfully up at Ignis. “What would you want your soulmate to be like, if you had one?”

_You,_ Ignis thinks immediately, and he laughs at how predictable he is.

“What?” Noct asks, pouting, and Ignis shakes his head.

“Nothing,” he assures. “But I’d want them to be smart. Attractive.” He looks at Noct with mischief and teasing, and says, “Someone who eats their vegetables and doesn’t steal all the fries when someone shares with them.”

“Hey!” Noct protests, and he hits at Ignis, who only leans away and laughs.

They settle, grinning widely at each other, and Ignis looks away first. “I got accepted,” he says, and he waits for his words to sink in.

Noct lights up, moving around the pier to look into Ignis’s face. “That’s great, Specs! That school in Galahd, right? The culinary one?”

“Yes,” Ignis confirms. “I’ve talked to my admissions advisor, and they’ll let me put off enrolling properly for two years, so I’ll be getting a two-year degree at the local university before starting there.”

“I’m so happy for you, Ignis,” Noct says, and he sounds it—it makes Ignis indescribably happy to know Noct supports him. “School is—not my thing. I’m good at it, and I enjoy the subjects, but the structure of it is just—” He waves a hand around to encompass his point, and Ignis understands. “I’d rather just be out in the world, you know?”

“I do,” Ignis says. “I like hands-on experience, but I must admit there’s something about a classroom setting that charms me.”

“You’re weird,” Noct says fondly, grinning, and he rests his chin on Ignis’s leg, his wet hair leaving splotches on Ignis’s trousers. “But I like that about you.”

“Well, thank the gods for that,” Ignis says, voice dripping sarcasm as he rolls his eyes, but he smiles down at Noct. “Whatever would I do if you didn’t like me?”

“Die, probably,” Noct says solemnly, a glint to his eyes, and Ignis thinks he’s more right than he knows.

Eventually, the sun is risen high, and Ignis and Noct can smell the Mother of Pearl’s lunch menu from where they are. Noct moves away and Ignis pulls his feet out of the water, shaking them off as he stands.

“You ever considered fishing?” Noct asks, flicking his tail.

Ignis pauses. “Can’t say I have,” he replies, eyebrows raised. A smile plays at the corners of his lips. “Are you wanting me to catch you?”

The look Noct gives him makes shivers run up his spine, full of heat despite the bluish blush staining his cheeks, and Ignis swallows.

“You wouldn’t need a rod for that,” he murmurs, and it comes out more serious than Ignis expected. He disappears beneath the waves before Ignis can respond.

Ignis bites his lip, watching the water settle.

Gods, what has he gotten himself into?

 

**22/20**

The Quay always looks most magnificent at night, Ignis thinks. Lit up by soft lights, strung from the shops to the Mother of Pearl, there’s a hazy glow to the atmosphere, and gentle, soothing music plays from speakers situated around. It’s calmer, too, kids home and tucked away in bed, leaving just couples to walk the beach hand in hand, heads together, whispering intimately.

Ignis stands in the surf beside his pier, gazing up at the stars. They twinkle against the black backdrop of the sky like gems, sweeping in nebulous patterns. The breeze—warm, but not unbearably so for the middle of the Lucian summer—ruffles his hair, brushing it against his face, and he’s left his shirt mostly unbuttoned in the hopes it cools against the sweat at his throat.

The water ripples around his ankles, and Ignis brings his gaze down to the emerging form of Noct.

“Hey,” he greets softly, biting at his lip, and Ignis smiles, heart jumping.

“Hello.”

Full grown, Noct is beautiful—alluring in looks as well as voice, the ocean in movement embodied in a slender form. He speaks softly because any louder and it would be too much; Ignis wouldn’t stand a chance against the mesmerizing notes, the hypnotic cadence that winds its way around its victim and draws them in.

Ignis hasn’t been able to resist in a long, long time.

“Interesting thing,” Noct starts, floating around at Ignis’s feet with an air of nonchalance he can pick out as forced any day. “I found something, when I was out and about the other day. Well, I say other day—maybe a week or two ago? I lose track of time.”

Ignis smiles, because he knows this.

“Anyway. I found something.” He looks at Ignis expectantly, and Ignis realizes he wants a response.

“What did you find?” he asks.

Noct flicks his tail up, examining it the way a human might look at their nails, trying to appear disinterested or casual. “A bottle,” he says, and Ignis’s heart skips again. “Dark, probably an old root beer bottle. But that wasn’t the most interesting part.”

Ignis’s fingers tighten around the object in his hand that he’d found set on the pier this morning, innocuously in the middle. Deliberate.

“What was the most interesting part?” He makes himself ask, even though on the inside he’s screaming at himself to shut up, to leave.

Noct finally looks at him, dropping his tail beneath the surface. “There was a piece of paper in the bottle,” he says, ever so soft. “Tied with red string.”

Ignis swallows and holds up the bottle, the dark glass reflecting the light from the Mother of Pearl. He can just barely make out the item within—a rolled up piece of paper, tied with string. He can’t see what color it is through the glass, but he knows the exact shade of cherry red it to be.

Noct comes up right to his feet, pushing himself up against the ground. Ignis kneels instinctively, always wanting to be close, _closerclosercloser,_ until he’s but a breath away. Noct’s eyes are dark, the ocean at night, reflecting the light of the stars. He smells not of fish or brine or salt, but of storms and lightning, a hurricane wrapped in a lovely visage.

His breath is warm against Ignis’s cheek as he leans forward, and Ignis sways in place, lips parting and eyes falling half-closed. He wants to taste those lips, feel those teeth bite into him, hold Noct close and never let go again.

He swallows, and forces himself to speak. “My name is Ignis Scientia.” He recites the words he’d written so long ago, a lifetime away and never more present, words he’s never forgotten.

“I live in Tenebrae, but I visit Lucis every summer. I spend most of my time at Galdin Quay. It’s very pretty. The food is excellent. But my favorite part is the ocean. I like the way it reflects the sky above, making it look endless. I collect shells to bring back a little piece of it with me.”

He swallows when his voice becomes too thick to continue. “It’s my home more than Tenebrae is. I think you’d like it, if you haven’t been already.

“I don’t know if you believe in soulmates,” his voice is hoarse, and Noct is _so close,_ “and I don’t know if I do either, but I think it would be nice to meet whoever finds this. Let the String guide you home.”

“And home I will be,” Noct whispers, eyes never leaving Ignis. He lifts a hand, cupping Ignis’s cheek, and Ignis leans into the cool touch. His voice wraps around Ignis, sweet and warm, and Ignis wants to fall into it.

“I told you when we met,” Noct says, lips brushing against Ignis’s, “that I’d lure you to your death.”

_And I will gladly go,_ Ignis thinks, and he closes the distance between them, tasting Noct’s lips on his own like he’s desired for years.

**Author's Note:**

> i may or may not have an epilogue for this bc i cut like 500 words off the end that was turning into pure smut so stay tuned maybe :eyes emoji: 
> 
> hit me up on [tumblr](http://duscaenorange.tumblr.com) and come yell with me abt these boys ;;


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